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ANC needs to find common ground on load shedding before 2024 polls
South Africa's electricity crisis has dominated the ANC NEC meeting.
Picture: Michel Bega
The four-day African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting currently underway in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, shows the party is doing a lot of strategic planning ahead of next year’s much-anticipated general elections.
This is according to political analyst Prof. Andre Duvenhage.
The meeting which started on Friday saw the load shedding crisis dominating proceedings with a number media briefings held in between.
WATCH: ANC concerned about criticism of electricity minister
Speaking to The Citizen on Sunday, Duvenhage said it was important for the ANC to get some coherence going, especially when it comes to dealing with the country’s never-ending electricity crisis.
“It is clear that the electricity problem is going to escalate, especially as we enter the winter season with demand expected to increase, and this will have far-reaching implications for the ANC.
“The ANC now has a minister for every aspect of electricity and I honestly believe that there is conflict among the ministries tasked with coming up with solutions for the load shedding crisis,” said Duvenhage.
ALSO READ: Increased load shedding no reason to fear grid collapse, says Eskom
ANC preparing for the 2024 polls
He said the NEC meeting also means the ANC is building up to next year’s general elections.
“The ANC is working with among others a scenario where they will give everything they can to win the elections, but also accepting the reality that they may lose the election in the sense of not achieving an absolute majority.
“It’s a question of who is going to be a strategic partner for the ANC and this is bringing up the whole debate with regard to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and maybe other strategic partners like the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)… it is interesting times and its also interesting to test the support base of Cyril Ramaphosa after the party’s national elective conference,” said Duvenhage.
Ramaphosa’s support base tested
Duvenhage said Ramaphosa seems to be seen a lot less in public these days, adding that it will also be interesting to see what role ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile and his grouping takes, seeing as they are close to the EFF.
Another political analyst, Prof. Ntsikeleo Breakfast, echoed Duvenhage’s sentiments saying the so-called tension between Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe needs to be sorted out.
“The electricity minister is now sidestepping a commitment he made to end load shedding by the end of this year.
“Those who came out to defend Ramokgopa are Ramahosa loyalists, while the president himself said there is no bad blood between the ministers in question,” said Breakfast.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula was the first to praise Ramokgopa’s efforts in dealing with load shedding, before another NEC member Mmamoloko Kubayi took a swipe at the media for being too critical of Ramokgopa.
ALSO READ: ANC supports Ramokgopa’s plans to deal with load shedding
Is the ANC genuine about wanting to fix governance issues?
“Former Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter said there are some Cabinet ministers benefiting from Eskom which is being used to amass wealth – and we know Eskom was also under the spotlight at the Zondo commission for entrenching corruption.
“I am not convinced the ANC is committed to do away with power outages because they don’t speak the same language… which message are they sending out? They are going to pay dearly for this,” Breakfast said.
